“Dear PoPville,
At around 3:45AM this morning, a man entered my house on the 4700 block of Colorado Ave NW while my wife and I were home and took her purse off the kitchen counter. He came in through our patio door in back, which was not locked at the time.
By coincidence I happened to be awake and heard the door open, so I immediately ran after him but was too far behind to catch him. He ran down the alley, got onto a bike, and rode away.
Shortly thereafter my wife started getting charge notifications on her credit cards at gas stations on Georgia Ave in Petworth.
DCPD were here within a few minutes and were very responsive and professional. It seemed like at one point they were chasing someone but he got away.
All that to say, if you live in this immediate area you might want to check on your belongings and/or review security camera footage. [Ed. Note: Also make sure all your doors/lower level windows are locked at night.] I only saw him from the back and did not get a good sense of his clothing because it was dark, but he was somewhat on the shorter side and of slim to medium build, riding a men’s mountain bike. Based on his behavior of leaving the bike at the end of the alley, it seems likely he tried multiple doors.”